Making charcoal is simple. I use a 55 gallon food grade metal drum with a lid and cut branches or split wood about 4” in diameter.
Start a fire in the barrel with about 1/3 full, and then after a while add another third and then another third.
After it’s all coal close the lid and let it sit for 3 days.
Dump the charcoal on a tarp and sort it by size.
If I could do it I would. We are seniors and hubby just does not want to bother. As a result we use Kingsford.